Coinjoin breaks the link between Bitcoin inputs and outputs for financial privacy. After Samourai's shutdown, here's what still works — Wasabi Wallet, JoinMarket, Payjoin — and how to use them safely.
Bitcoin transactions are publicly visible on the blockchain. Without privacy tools, anyone can trace payments from address to address, potentially linking your identity to your entire transaction history. Coinjoin is the primary technique for breaking this chain of custody.
But the privacy landscape changed dramatically in 2024 when the US Department of Justice arrested the founders of Samourai Wallet, shutting down its Whirlpool coinjoin implementation. Here's what coinjoin is, what still works in 2026, and how to think about Bitcoin privacy today.
Coinjoin is a method for combining multiple Bitcoin transactions into a single transaction with many inputs and outputs, making it difficult to determine which input corresponds to which output.
Standard transaction:
Coinjoin transaction:
The equal-output amount is critical. If all outputs are the same denomination, a blockchain analyst can't use output amount to break the anonymity set.
In April 2024, the US Department of Justice charged Samourai Wallet founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill with money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. The DOJ alleged Samourai's Whirlpool coinjoin mixer processed over $2 billion in transactions and helped launder proceeds from criminal activity.
Samourai Wallet's servers were seized, Whirlpool became inoperable, and the mobile app was pulled from Google Play. The case established, at least from the DOJ's perspective, that running a non-custodial coinjoin coordinator for third parties constitutes money transmission.
What the Samourai arrest changed:
What it didn't change:
Wasabi Wallet is a desktop Bitcoin wallet with built-in WabiSabi coinjoin. It's the primary functioning coinjoin implementation available to most users in 2026.
How Wasabi Coinjoin works:
Key Wasabi stats:
Wasabi's legal position: zkSNACKs, the company behind Wasabi, is registered and operating. After the Samourai arrest, zkSNACKs announced it would stop processing transactions from US residents — a preemptive compliance measure. Wasabi remains available for non-US users; US users face more friction.
Using Wasabi:
JoinMarket is a peer-to-peer coinjoin market where "makers" provide liquidity and "takers" initiate coinjoins. There is no central coordinator — liquidity providers advertise their willingness to participate, and takers select and pay them.
Why JoinMarket is different:
JoinMarket's legal position: Stronger than centralized coordinators. The peer-to-peer model most closely resembles two parties agreeing to combine transactions — more clearly not money transmission than running a coordinator service.
Using JoinMarket:
Payjoin is not traditional coinjoin — it's a two-party transaction where both sender and receiver contribute an input. This breaks the common-input-ownership heuristic that blockchain analysts use to cluster addresses.
Payjoin advantages:
Payjoin limitations:
Wallets supporting Payjoin: BlueWallet, BTCPay Server, Sparrow Wallet (receiving), Wasabi Wallet
CoinSwap (Teleport Transactions) is a more advanced technique where two parties swap Bitcoin in a way that severs the on-chain link without creating a recognizable coinjoin transaction pattern.
CoinSwap transactions look like normal Bitcoin transactions on-chain — not obvious privacy transactions. This is a significant advantage for avoiding heuristic detection.
Status: Still in development/early deployment. Teleport Transactions (the main implementation) is available but not widely used. Promising but not production-ready for most users.
Wasabi introduced the concept of an anonymity score (anon score) — a measure of how many other UTXOs your Bitcoin looks like after coinjoin.
Multiple rounds of coinjoin accumulate anon score. Wasabi's interface lets you set a target anon score and keeps coinjoin-ing until it's reached.
Coinjoin is only the beginning. Post-coinjoin transaction hygiene matters:
1. Merging coinjoined and non-coinjoined UTXOs If you receive coinjoined outputs and combine them with a known wallet in the same transaction, you've linked the coinjoined coins to your identity.
2. Sending change back to a known address Change outputs in transactions after coinjoin can relink your coins. Use coin control to avoid this.
3. Using the same address repeatedly Address reuse destroys privacy. Use a fresh address for every receive.
4. Spending on KYC exchanges Depositing coinjoined Bitcoin to an exchange that requires KYC immediately links the coins to your identity.
5. Dust attacks Small "dust" amounts sent to your address can be used to trace your wallet if you spend the dust. Avoid spending dust outputs.
Tor: Route all Bitcoin node and wallet traffic through Tor to hide your IP address. Wasabi and JoinMarket both support Tor.
Lightning Network: Off-chain Lightning payments don't appear on the main Bitcoin blockchain. Useful for small, frequent payments.
Coin control: Manually select which UTXOs to spend, preventing accidental merging of private and non-private coins. Available in Sparrow Wallet, Wasabi, and others.
Sparrow Wallet: Excellent coin control features, UTXO labeling, and Whirlpool integration (though Whirlpool is defunct, Sparrow's coin control and privacy features remain valuable).
Using coinjoin as an individual to enhance your financial privacy is legal in most jurisdictions. The Samourai case targeted the operators of a mixing service, not users.
Key distinctions:
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has not issued clear guidance specifically prohibiting coinjoin usage by individuals.
International perspective: Most Western democracies treat financial privacy tools similarly to the US — the tool itself is not illegal; using it for clearly criminal purposes is.
Coinjoin is relevant for:
Coinjoin is less relevant for:
For a reasonable privacy setup:
Is Wasabi Wallet legal to use? Yes, for individuals using it for personal financial privacy. zkSNACKs has taken steps to restrict US users proactively.
Can the government trace coinjoined Bitcoin? Sophisticated chain analysis firms (Chainalysis, Elliptic) attempt to deanonymize coinjoin outputs, but high anon scores make this statistically challenging. Not impossible, but significantly harder than tracing normal transactions.
Should I coinjoin all my Bitcoin? Only if you have a legitimate privacy need. Coinjoin has fees and complexity — for most retail HODLers, the benefit may not justify the friction.
Is JoinMarket better than Wasabi? JoinMarket is more decentralized and censorship-resistant. Wasabi is easier to use. JoinMarket is better for privacy purists; Wasabi is better for most users.
What happened to Whirlpool? Whirlpool was Samourai Wallet's coinjoin implementation. When the DOJ arrested Samourai's founders in April 2024, Whirlpool's coordinators went offline. Whirlpool is defunct as of 2026.
Coinjoin remains a viable Bitcoin privacy tool in 2026. Wasabi Wallet's WabiSabi protocol is the most accessible implementation; JoinMarket offers a more decentralized alternative for technical users.
The Samourai shutdown changed the landscape but didn't eliminate coinjoin. What it eliminated was non-custodial mixer services operating in the US without regulatory clarity — the actual coinjoin technique itself remains legal for personal use.
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